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Dear Supporter,
Please forward to your lists and congregations:
Action Alert: Support New Haven Free Speech War Resisters!
Marine recruiter assaults anti-war demonstrators
with baseball bat in New Haven
Press Conference & Rally to Denounce this Assault
Wednesday, July 5
5:00 PM
Outside Military Recruitment Center
157 Orange Street, New Haven
On Wednesday, June 28, a baseball bat-wielding Marine recruiter
engaged in an unprovoked assault on two demonstrators outside the
recruiting center and then seized the cellphone belonging to another
demonstrator who had witnessed and photographed the assault.
The National Lawyers Guild was contacted immediately after the incident
by organizers who were looking for legal assistance because, among other
things, the New Haven police were trying to discourage the victims from
making a complaint against the recruiter -- apparently at least one
officer expressed the opinion that having an anti-war demonstration
outside a military recruiting center was a "provocation."
The question that this incident must raise is this: if a US Marine
recruiter, while safely ensconced behind a desk in an air-conditioned
office in New Haven, working in a position that plainly keeps him in the
public eye, feels free to use a baseball bat to beat a protester . . .
then how much restraint do we imagine that his compatriots use against
Iraqis?
I would strongly urge people to participate in the rally on July 5. The
movement needs to respond in a strong and clear voice to violence
against demonstrators, and all the more so when it comes from government
personnel and is calculated to discourage political opposition.
Peter Goselin
NLG-CT
About twenty anti-war protesters were holding a non-violent
demonstration in front of the military recruitment center in New Haven
in support of Suzanne Swift, a soldier who refused to deploy after being
sexually assaulted, and First Lieutenant Ehren Watada, the first commissioned
officer to publicly refuse orders to deploy to the Iraq war.
We believe that this assault violates the civil rights of the non-violent
protesters, as well as their right to free speech.
Police Officers Ratti (Badge #463), Hartnett (#4), and Knickerbocker (#80)
arrived and obtained the seized cellphone from the Marine. But he had
erased a picture of the assault. We did not confront the recruiters, since
we do not blame the soldiers for the war. The blame lies solely on a
government whose interests are contradictory to those of the soldiers.
Rally Demands:
1. A public apology from both the US Marine Corps
and the New Haven Police Department.
2. That the officer that assaulted us be removed from his duties and
provided appropriate counseling but NOT jail time.
3. That our free speech rights are guaranteed in all
public places including in front of the recruiting station.
4. Free Lt. Ehren Watada, Specialist Suzanne Swift
and all other jailed war resisters!
5. Fund GI healthcare!
6. Bring the TROOPS HOME NOW!
TAKE ACTION
Call the US Marine Corps Recruiting Command
Orange St, New Haven, CT - 203-789-4484
Regional Office, Springfield, MA - 413-594-4623 or 2033
-- Major Lawrence Coleman, Sergeant Major Cevet Adams
Call the New Haven Police Department
Chief Francisco Ortiz - 203-946-6333
General - 203-946-6316 or 6120
"Internal Values and Ethics" - 203-946-6249 or 6250
--Officers Ratti (#463), Hartnett (#4), Knickerbocker (#80)
Come to the Press Conference and Rally
Wednesday, July 5 - 5PM
157 Orange St. New Haven, CT 06511
For More Info/directions/get involved call Todd 203-506-2414
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